Smoking Ac Vents?

[deejay]

Scratching my head on this one. The other day, I drove my 1992 LS400 (121,846 miles) home, parked and went in for about 40 minutes. Came out to go elsewhere and noticed a faint smoke coming from the vents in the center console. When I started the car and pressed the 'Auto" button for the AC, a brief puff of acrid smoke came out. After that, the AC seemed normal.

Went on a road trip over the weekend and noticed near the end that the AC did not seem to be cooling as well as normal. This may be imaginary on my part, as my son said that it felt fine to him. It was an incredibly hot day.

We live in Florida and are familiar with the phenomenon of an AC blowing a condensate fog due to our ridiculous humidity. This was different.

Anyone have any ideas on this one?

Thanks in advance for any advice ya'll can offer.

[wwest]

Not too different.....

40 minutes would be just about long enough for the previous condensed moisture on the 10,000 square inches of eveaporator vane surface to begin to evaporate due to the local Rh and temperature.

What you most likely saw was the mist from that evaporate that subsided as soon as the evaporator vanes were again cooled by rewfrigerant.

Acrid as in mould and mildew, dirty gym socks odor, or....

[LRP_LS400]

freon leak?

[wwest]

Freon has no noticeable odor.

[nc211]

west, i'm not sure if he's smelling it though? DeeJay, are you smelling anything? Question: Do you have a slight haze of buildup on the inside of the widows? I hear that is a sign of freon leaking into the cabin. But, I get that problem as well, so does my girl's honda civic "2 years old" and neither one of our cars has freon leaks. I think if it is a massive buildup of haze, and it came on quickly, then I think it might be freon. But, my 2 cents hasn't been cashed in yet on the a/c stuff on these cars. I'm still stuck underneath the thing! Hahaha Slowing working my way into the engine compartment.

[jadecuir]

Freon smells like propane.

[deejay]

Further news on the AC issue:

AC is definitely not cooling as it has in the past. I can only assume a freon leak or an issue with the compressor or compressor clutch. Thinking the smoke I saw earlier might have been something burning out. It still cools somewhat, but not quickly nor as strongly as it used to. :(

[deejay]

west, i'm not sure if he's smelling it though? DeeJay, are you smelling anything? Question: Do you have a slight haze of buildup on the inside of the widows? I hear that is a sign of freon leaking into the cabin. But, I get that problem as well, so does my girl's honda civic "2 years old" and neither one of our cars has freon leaks. I think if it is a massive buildup of haze, and it came on quickly, then I think it might be freon. But, my 2 cents hasn't been cashed in yet on the a/c stuff on these cars. I'm still stuck underneath the thing! Hahaha Slowing working my way into the engine compartment.

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Haven't noticed any haze buildup, although I will double check that tomorrow. The smell was only briefly there when I started the AC after I noticed the smoking vents. There was a small puff of smoke and an acrid smell---sort of like a burned insulation smell. Now, 3-4 days later, the AC isn't cooling properly at all.

[GRAND_LS 4]

west, i'm not sure if he's smelling it though? DeeJay, are you smelling anything? Question: Do you have a slight haze of buildup on the inside of the widows? I hear that is a sign of freon leaking into the cabin. But, I get that problem as well, so does my girl's honda civic "2 years old" and neither one of our cars has freon leaks. I think if it is a massive buildup of haze, and it came on quickly, then I think it might be freon. But, my 2 cents hasn't been cashed in yet on the a/c stuff on these cars. I'm still stuck underneath the thing! Hahaha Slowing working my way into the engine compartment.

←

Haven't noticed any haze buildup, although I will double check that tomorrow. The smell was only briefly there when I started the AC after I noticed the smoking vents. There was a small puff of smoke and an acrid smell---sort of like a burned insulation smell. Now, 3-4 days later, the AC isn't cooling properly at all.

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I noticed that putting the AC on recirculation mode prevents a lot of the haze build up. Its not freon, its just gasses built up from AC use during the day. That’s why if you have a garage, you should crank down the windows, or tilt the sunroof when its parked after a long day of AC use.

Or you can flush that air by turning off the compressor 15 seconds before you turn off the engine.

I also noticed a lot of cars defaults to outside air when the ignition is turned off, which contributes heavily to the haze build up. Tampa isn’t the best place to be in during the summer.

[nc211]

"Tampa isn’t the best place to be in during the summer."

Hahaha, you got that right! I was just down there over the 4th of July visiting friends, and I cooked my next generation(s) every time I stepped outside! It's awfully bright down there too "could have been the hangover though". Strange to say, I know. But I noticed how much brighter the sun is down there. Kickas* football stadium and a beautiful downtown. I bet that super-speedway they're building up in the air will be sweet when it's done! Ever gone up to Crystal River to swim with the Manatees? It's an awsome trip! Nice town in general, just too hot in the summer for me.

Well, if you're smelling something, then I would follow West's lead, as I'm stumped. I'll try that recirc trick to prevent the haze buildup. I noticed the other day that something was sticking out of my center vent. I pulled it out, and it turned out to be some sort of foam type insulation! It was about a mm wide, and an inch long. Gee, can't wait to see where that came from! :cries:

[wwest]

Window haze...three types.

1. Cigarettes.

2. Condensate/fog/mist.

3. Outgassing from plastcizers used in interior materials.

That latter is more common than most think. The car sets all closed up in the hot sun and the inside temperature rises to 150F and above. The plasticizers "boil" out of the material, along with any leather/vinyl conditioner application you may have applied.

Now you start the car up, the system automatically goes into recirculate and thus distributes all of the outgassed material onto the coolest nearby surfaces, the glass window interiors.

[MATERIALISTICGIRL101]

Scratching my head on this one.  The other day, I drove my 1992 LS400 (121,846 miles) home, parked and went in for about 40 minutes.  Came out to go elsewhere and noticed a faint smoke coming from the vents in the center console.  When I started the car and pressed the 'Auto" button for the AC, a brief puff of acrid smoke came out.  After that, the AC seemed normal.

Went on a road trip over the weekend and noticed near the end that the AC did not seem to be cooling as well as normal.  This may be imaginary on my part, as my son said that it felt fine to him.  It was an incredibly hot day.

We live in Florida and are familiar with the phenomenon of an AC blowing a condensate fog due to our ridiculous humidity.  This was different.

Anyone have any ideas on this one?

Thanks in advance for any advice ya'll can offer.

←

Hello, just read your qustion, it was back in january and I just googled to find your question with the a/c problem, because my cart is doing the same ( 99 lexus es300 94,000) except its leaking water behind the drivers seats! Did you get it fixed? what was wrong and how much did it cost? thanks alot, Its so hard, becuase the closest lexus dealership is 200 miles away!